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No Sustained Changes In Uruguay Youth Cannabis Use After Legalization

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Policy.

Uruguay will forever hold the distinction of being the first country on earth to pass an adult-use cannabis legalization measure. Uruguay made the historic policy change in 2013.

Nearly a decade later, only two countries have joined Uruguay on the legalization list – Canada and Malta. Out of the three countries that have passed legalization measures, only Canada and Uruguay currently allow legalized sales.

Researchers around the globe have kept a close eye on Uruguay to see what, if any, significant public health outcome changes occur due to legalization, with a particular focus on youth cannabis consumption rates.

Cannabis opponents always predict doomsday scenarios regarding youth cannabis consumption whenever cannabis reform measures are being proposed, including in Uruguay leading up to legalization.

A team of international researchers recently explored data specific to Uruguay and youth consumption rates, and fortunately for sensible policy advocates, there appear to be no sustained changes in youth consumption patterns. Below is more information about it via a news release from NORML:

New York, NY: The adoption of nationwide regulations governing the retail sale of cannabis to adults is not associated with sustained increases in young people’s cannabis consumption, according to data published in the journal Addiction.

An international team of researchers from Chile, the United States, and Uruguay assessed cannabis use trends in Uruguay among those ages 12 to 21 following legalization.

Uruguay initially approved legislation legalizing the use of cannabis by adults in 2013, although retail sales in licensed pharmacies did not begin until 2017. Under the law, cannabis sales are restricted to those age 18 or older who register with the state. Commercially available cannabis products may only be produced by state-licensed entities and sold at specially licensed pharmacies. THC levels are capped by regulators and government price controls are imposed upon flower. Limited home cultivation is allowed in private households.

Consistent with prior studies, researchers reported no significant changes in cannabis use patterns among either adolescents or young adults. Among those under the age of 18, marijuana use fell following legalization. Among those ages 18 to 21, cannabis use initially rose, but then decreased.

Authors concluded, “The legalization of recreational cannabis in Uruguay was not associated with overall increases in either past-year/past-month cannabis use or with multi-year changes in any risky and frequent cannabis use among young people.”

Numerous North American studies have similarly failed to identify any significant upticks in cannabis use by young people following the adoption of adult-use legalization in either US states or in Canada.

Full text of the study, “Does recreational cannabis legalization change cannabis use patterns? Evidence from secondary school students in Uruguay,” appears in Addiction. Additional information is available from the NORML fact sheet, ‘Marijuana Regulation and Teen Use Rates.’

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Manitoba’s Home Cultivation Ban Receives Judicial Review

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Policy.

Canada was the first G-7 nation to legalize cannabis for adult use. Only one other country, Uruguay, legalized cannabis for adult use before Canada made the public policy shift in late 2018.

One of the components of Canada’s legalization model was home cultivation, with adult households permitted to cultivate up to 4 plants according to the new federal law. Unfortunately, two provinces quickly moved to ban home cultivation – Manitoba and Quebec.

Quebec’s home cultivation ban was already challenged in court, with the first judge determining that home cultivation bans were unconstitutional. That judge’s decision was overturned upon appeal, and now the issue is waiting to be reviewed by Canada’s Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a court challenge was being pursued in Manitoba as well, and that challenge recently received its day in court. The government’s argument essentially involves the position that provinces can be more restrictive, but not less restrictive, than federal law when it comes to home cultivation.

The argument made by home cultivation advocates is that while provinces can put restrictions in place, they cannot outright ban home cultivation. A similar argument was made in the Quebec home cultivation case. Below is more information about the Manitoba case, via excerpts from CBC:

Tousaw argued Manitoba’s position is in direct contravention of the federal Cannabis Act, which permitted grow-your-own-cannabis operations across the country, barring some differences across jurisdictions but no outright prohibitions.

“Other provinces understood these comments as invitations to regulate time, place and manner, and many have done so,” he told the court.

“By imposing the absolute prohibition on residential cultivation, Manitoba exceeded the bounds of the federal government’s invitation to cooperate and improperly undermined the purposes of the Cannabis Act.”

A ruling in the Manitoba case is expected to take weeks or even months to occur. Even then, regardless of the outcome, it’s likely that the case will eventually make its way to Canada’s Supreme Court, just as the case in Quebec has done.

I would personally expect Canada’s top court to side with the arguments being made by home cultivation advocates, including the arguments made by attorney Kirk Tousaw. However, only time will tell how it all shakes out.

UK Government Fund Invests In Cannabis Company

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Business, Policy.

During the pandemic, the United Kingdom set up a fund called the ‘British Business Bank’s Future Fund.’ The aim of the taxpayer-backed fund was to ‘support innovative companies that might have struggled to secure money during the pandemic.’

The fund recently announced another round of applicant approvals, and among the winners of the government investments was a cannabis company that specializes in making hemp-derived oil. Per excerpts from The Guardian:

The UK government has become a shareholder in a cannabis oil company, a yoghurt bar business, a London-based craft brewery and a maker of land, underwater and air drones that “take inspiration from the clever tricks that animals use to move”.

The latest round of investments include Grass & Co, founded by brothers Ben and Tom Grass in 2019, which makes cannabidiol (CBD) products using chemicals found in hemp, which are stocked in stores including Selfridges and Boots.

According to coverage by The Guardian, the fund has shelled out over £1.4 billion to a total of 1,190 companies so far, with 335 of those companies converting government loans into government equity stakes after finding private investments to match the government’s money.

The investment into the CBD oil company is bittersweet, in that it’s obviously great news for the recipient and great to see the United Kingdom recognize the economic potential of the merging cannabis industry, however, to some degree it highlights the deficiencies of the United Kingdom’s medical cannabis program.

As we previously reported, out of an estimated 1.4 million suffering patients, only thousands of patients have been prescribed a cannabis product by the United Kingdom directly, or indirectly via a private medical practitioner.

Patients deserve unfettered safe access to all forms of effective medical cannabis, which is unfortunately not the case in the United Kingdom.

 

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German Health Minister Gets Behind Expediting Cannabis Reform

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Policy.

Karl Lauterbach makes public statement about prioritizing recreational cannabis reform in Germany this summer

In a surprise announcement, the German Health Minister, SPD-affiliated Karl Lauterbach, has now thrown his weight behind a stepped-up schedule for cannabis legalization. Namely, he wants to put this on the summer legislative agenda rather than pushing it back to this fall (or later) as had been widely rumored.

As quoted in Handesblatt, Lauterbach said that he has “changed his mind about this in the past two years…I’ve always been an opponent of cannabis legalization, but I revised my opinion about a year ago.” He now believes that the dangers of the status quo outweigh the dangers of recreational reform.

Lauterbach’s statements about cannabis reform were part of his call for stepped-up action on several pressing issues facing the German healthcare system. Namely the need for a greater contribution from German citizens to address the huge shortfall the statutory health insurers are facing as well as the digitalization of the healthcare infrastructure.

His comments also come at a time when there is growing momentum from all coalition parties to not kick the cannabis legalization discussion can down the road anymore. During the first quarter of 2022, despite making cannabis legalization part of the election platform that put the Traffic Light coalition into power, the only thing emanating out of Berlin for months was calls for delay. The excuse was both the lingering Pandemic and then the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Even more interesting is that Lauterbach’s comments come at a time when all three coalition partners have begun to publicly support the idea of home-grow as part of the initial reform law. This too had been widely rumored to have been dropped from discussion.

Drivers of Reform

There are several reasons that are likely behind this interesting about-face by leading figures in the new government to suddenly prioritize cannabis reform this year.

The first is undoubtedly the fact that the medical efficacy of cannabis cannot be denied anymore – meaning that the beleaguered health insurance companies will be increasingly under the gun to reform their policies about coverage – and pay for coverage of more people. That has been one of the most problematic aspects of the limited medical reform compromise made into law in 2017. Insurers have routinely turned down about 40% of applicants – forcing those who can to sue for individual compensation and those who can’t into the black market, increasing the risk of prosecution for merely being chronically ill.

The second is that with full recreational reform, patients who have been turned down for coverage – or cannot find a doctor in the first place will, at least no longer be criminalized by taking matters into their own hands.

Further, if patients are finally allowed to grow their own, additional pressure will be taken off a healthcare system that has been horrifically slow in the acceptance of medical cannabis in the first place.

As a result, it may be, after months of delay and diffusion, that there is finally a push for cannabis reform that may even take place this summer – at least on a legislative level. That is good news indeed.

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Could Guernsey Lead The Way On Recreational Cannabis Reform In The UK?

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Policy.

The Channel Island has made great strides on the medical front. Will recreational reform be next?

Guernsey has been moving forward steadily on cannabis reform for the last several years. Envisioned as a way to help bring new business opportunities for the acres of empty greenhouses across the island, the development of the industry has received enthusiastic support from political leaders on the island.

Currently, the vast majority of cannabis patients on the island still have to import their medicine, via the British mainland, from other parts of the world, including Canada and Germany. About 800 patients have been issued approximately 5,000 individual import licenses over the last 18 months. This will gradually begin to change as local medical cultivation and extraction gets up to speed here.

However, recreational reform is also potentially in the offing.

Guernsey is, as a result, potentially the first place recreational reform will take hold in the United Kingdom. Local politicians who just returned from a fact-finding tour of Canada, also predict that full legalization will occur on the mainland within 5-10 years.

A Medical and Recreational Source of Flower

One of the drivers of cannabis reform here, beyond caring for local inhabitants with serious health conditions, has clearly been the economic redevelopment of an island that, in the past, provided a local source for the cut-flower industry on the mainland.

Growing here, rather than the UK, especially if the government revises domestic rules on the island, seems like a no-brainer.

However full reform is still a bit controversial on Guernsey. There is a clear sentiment that they do not want the island to become “just like Amsterdam” – namely breeding a tourist trade that comes here for the cannabis.

Growing, in some cases, extracting, and then exporting to the mainland is the focus here.

Could Reform in Guernsey Drive the British Discussion?

There is no doubt that reform has moved more quickly on the British islands around the UK than on the mainland itself. Both Jersey and Guernsey have progressed at least on medical cultivation, while on the Isle of Man, a $100 million-plus project has been announced.

In the meantime, the British Isles have moved forward on CBD reform. The Food Safety Authority just released a list of approved products for sale in the UK – and this will continue to grow. There is no reason that while the larger questions of reform are ironed out on a national level, however, Guernsey will still be able to grow hemp and high THC cannabis and export it, plus extract, to the mainland, while developing their own home-grown version of reform, that is also very likely, within the next several years, to include change of the recreational kind.

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Request For Proposals For Cannabis Businesses Requested By South African Government

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Business, Policy.

The Gauteng provincial government and the federal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development have requested interested parties to submit business partnership proposals

As of April 29, the South African government has released an announcement that they are looking for proposals to “unlock economic opportunities and job creation” through the development of the cannabis vertical.

The specific areas for development being considered include:

  • Funding and capitalization ideas to underwrite both hemp and cannabis cultivation, processing, and distribution.
  • Exchange, trading, and aggregation platforms for both domestic and export purposes. This will include both certification and QA processing.
  • Aggregation schemes for the vertical.
  • Carbon reduction and other phytoremediation programs including the rehabilitation of lands devastated by mining.

The Gauteng government is offering both leases on state-owned land as well as tenancy in special economic zones created specifically for this purpose.

This development is a direct outgrowth of the announcement by the premier of Gauteng, David Makhura in February of this year.

The focus, for now at least, is to build a “cannabis hub” focusing on medical and industrial use rather than the creation of a recreational market.

A Key Economic Differentiator

South Africa has taken a global lead in focusing on the development of the cannabis industry, unseen anywhere else in the world to date. The hope is that by developing a high-tech agricultural industry here, the government will open the door to over 130,000 new jobs being created by industry partners.

These efforts have not gone entirely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Greece has been on a cannabis development path to attract foreign investment for the past several years, although Covid and the lack of reform in the rest of Europe has put a dent in those plans as well as delayed them. So has the Channel Island of Guernsey.

Beyond Greece and Guernsey in Europe, several Latin American countries are now examining the sector for the same reason, although the countries that are most interested in the same may run into issues that South Africa will not. Namely, that rainforests will be further decimated by landless farmers looking to produce cannabis.

So far, in South Africa, the focus has been to create a planned “cannabis hub” and further to focus on cultivation that also has an environmental slant to it.

Sadly, more developed countries have not followed suit. However, as the project in South Africa develops, it will be interesting to see the impact elsewhere as reform continues to progress globally.

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Why Is the German Government Delaying Cannabis Reform?

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Policy.

Promises are promises. So why are there repeated indications that the new coalition is putting the issue on the backburner?

Six months ago, the new German governing coalition made recreational cannabis reform one of their election planks. After the election, in November, they also made promises that reform would progress this year.

It is now May – and so far, the only message out of Berlin is that this entire issue is low priority and further will be pushed back for other “more important” discussions. So far this has included the war with Ukraine as well as lingering Covid complications.

However, with Covid clearly receding as masks come off in public life, there is no more excuse from this angle. Further, the war may pose some large problems – notably how Germany is going to get its oil and gas and whether to send weapons to the war zone, but this should not distract from other big-ticket political issues now cooling on the backburner.

Here is a list of reasons why cannabis reform should be a top priority for the government this summer.

Recession and Inflation

There are repeated warnings and indicators that economies including the great German machine, will suffer from a twin blow of supply chain problems (in part caused by the war and partly by Covid), plus inflation that is affecting almost every aspect of life. There is no denying that this industry creates both jobs and tax revenue that the German government really needs.

A Green New Deal

This lofty ideal is stalling everywhere, yet cannabis reform, including in Europe, is a great way to jump-start this discussion. Not only is phytoremediation (usually with hemp crops) now starting to be a “thing” but organic continues to be a priority for consumers – even with inflation. This industry ticks both of these boxes.

The Medical Revolution is Stalled

Earlier this year, the largest insurers made the news by saying that the “cannabis craze” is over. This is not true, and by a long shot. About 40% of patients who should qualify for coverage are being denied it – and that impacts sales as well as funding for more trials. Beyond this, patients are consumers too – and they need both choices and affordable options – especially if insurance companies are slow to approve reimbursements. Not to mention protection from law enforcement.

The Police Are Busting Hemp Sellers

While it is a tragic reality, the police have stepped up efforts to prosecute even legitimate hemp sellers. There are approximately 200 criminal cases now pending against CBD specialty stores across the country and the pace does not seem to be tapering off. Legalization would stop this kind of police activity, for the benefit of taxpayers. Of course, the prosecution of patients would also stop.

It is time for a change. No more delay. Legalization Now!

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Nepal Appears To Be On Track To Re-Legalize Cannabis

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Policy.

New legislation to legalize cannabis is now underway in Nepal – the rooftop of the world

The country at the “top of the world” is now moving to relegalize cannabis. The plant has been illegal here since 1976 thanks to pressure from the United States. Before that, the country had a long history with cannabis.

During the 1960s, the drug was sold openly on “Freak Street.” Before this, Nepalese citizens used ganja for centuries as both a medical drug and a holy offering for Hindu gods.

Recent Efforts to Forward Legalization

There have been two serious efforts to relegalize cannabis – the first as a motion filed by the Communist Party in Parliament in 2020 and the second, a formal legalization bill, introduced in 2021. A change of government during Covid has slowed down progress, but it is clearly picking up again as the world re-opens post-Covid.

The prevailing attitude amongst lawmakers is that now that cannabis is being legalized by western countries, including the US, there is no reason to continue with a ban that bankrupted many farmers.

Medical cannabis is legal here – however, there is no framework for therapeutic use. The government still enforces a ban on both consumption and sales.

Enforcement, however, is already patchy.

A Boon for the Tourist Economy

The country is known as “the ceiling of the world” – possessing 8 of the world’s tallest 10 mountains. For this reason, tourism has become the country’s main source of revenue and foreign income.

In 2015, this was badly shaken by a series of earthquakes that year. Five years later, the entire sector collapsed completely thanks to Covid.

Making cannabis legal again will create not only jobs in cultivation but help shore up the revival of the tourist industry here.

A Domino for Cannabis Reform in Asia

One of the other interesting aspects of Nepal’s reform may be that cannabis will become more popular with its Asian visitors. Over half of all foreign tourists to the country are Asian.

Given the slow pace of reform in other countries (only Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand have formal cannabis programs or have enacted at least medical reform), the ability to sample cannabis while on vacation may also allow the seeds of reform to travel far from Nepal, and to countries who have so far been slow to implement change.

This could very well include India, where the question of formal reform has repeatedly stalled. It could also include China, the world’s largest producer of hemp but where both possession and consumption still carry heavy penalties.

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Cannabis Control Bill Moves Forward In Trinidad And Tobago

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Archives, Business, Policy.

Trinidad and Tobago’s emerging medical cannabis industry received a big boost on Friday when the Caribbean nation’s House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass the Cannabis Control Bill 2020.

The bill would, among other things, set up the Trinidad and Tobago Cannabis Licensing Authority which would serve as the regulatory body for the nation’s medical cannabis industry.

As I previously reported, part of the measure would create licenses for religious use. The religious use licensing provisions seemed to be causing some concern among religious groups and at least one lawmaker leading up to the vote, however, those concerns were obviously not enough to prevent the unanimous vote.

There are five cannabis licenses that people who use cannabis for religious purposes would be able to apply for according to the measure:

  • a cultivator license
  • dispensary
  • import license
  • export license
  • transport license

Cannabis was decriminalized in Trinidad and Tobago in 2019, and people can possess up to 30 grams of cannabis and cultivate up to 4 plants on their own property. The recently passed measure would create economic opportunities if it makes it all the way to the finish line, especially in rural areas, as touched on by coverage from Newsday:

In his wind-up on the motion Minister of Local Government and Rural Affairs Faris Al-Rawi said the bill would give the country opportunities to make some “serious money” even as the broader relaxation of the law on cannabis consumption (by the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Bill has greatly helped to unclog the country’s legal justice system. He said the commercial handling of cannabis under the Cannabis Control Bill will not be impeded by the Dangerous Drugs Act, Proceeds of Crime Act, Medical Board Act, or Pharmacy Board Act.

He said the bill will allow individuals entering the cannabis industry to become bankable, without any risk of correspondent bank failure.

“People have the opportunity to make some serious money in a serious industry.”

The Cannabis Control Bill now moves to the upper house (Senate) of the bicameral Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago.